Last night in the United Kingdom, the country-wide premiere of Grand Theft Auto based TV drama ‘The Gamechangers’ aired on BBC Two, despite previous legal action threatened by the game"s developer, Rockstar Games.
The drama follows the true story between Rockstar president, Sam Houser, and justice seeking lawyer, ‘ Jack Thompson’, in a battle over the ethics behind violence in video games and the effect these games had on the younger generation. While certain events have been slightly altered for dramatic effect, events such as controversial violence in-game, and the infamous ‘Hot Coffee’ sex scene were covered over the 90 minute period, with viewpoints of both parties being used to build tension.
Rockstar Games, who are still, to this day developing the Grand Theft Auto games commented on the broadcast late last night, via multiple tweets from their official Twitter account. The spokesman on the Rockstar Games account mentioned the BBC, dismissing the program as ‘random, made up bollocks’. This followed a rhetorical question from the developer, asking if the British children’s television character, Basil Brush, was occupied.
@BBC Was Basil Brush busy? What exactly is this random, made up bollocks?
— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) September 15, 2015
The developers have previously publicly showed their distaste for the project, since its initial announcement, stating that the TV drama was being created without their consent. Since, they have stated that they have ‘no involvement’ with the feature-length production, and emphasized that they will pursue the BBC, and protect their intellectual property.
Despite these comments, earlier in the month a trailer debuted online, promoting the drama as a part of the BBC ‘Make It Digital’ campaign, with a broadcast date set for September 15. The BBC are still to comment on the matter.
Source: Rockstar Games via IGN